The other transfer
by kiwifluffy
Summary: An Erudite girl once found something so big that she changed to Abnegation because of it. Something so evil many would die for it. Set at the time of the first book.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1: Erudite always**

Today is the day of the aptitude test. I can feel the tension buzzing around the school, as everyone walks these corridors for what will be the last time. My friend Lucy slips her hand into mine, and for once I don't shrink away. The Erudite, our faction, are not supposed to show any affection, but as I may no longer be Erudite in 24 hours, I don't think it matters. We reach the corridor where we have to separate and I turn left instantly, my heart hammering in my chest. I hear Lucy's cheerful goodbye and wonder if she will stay in Erudite. Lucy, like me, is too kind for Jeanine. But, while I can see her settling down in Amity, I know I can't do the same. The only other faction that I want to call home is the enemy. Abnegation. I force these thoughts out of my head and focus on the maths problems we were just given.

At lunchtime, we arrive in a new section of the building and wait for the tests to be administered. We cannot prepare for them and I have no idea what to expect, and I am always wondering if it is possible to receive an aptitude for more than one faction. Could I be neither Erudite nor Abnegation? Before I can consider this further, the volunteer worker stands and calls out the names of who goes first. 'From Erudite: Layla Young and Joseph King.' I walk shakily to the doors, my thoughts swirling in my head. Joseph doesn't even look at me. I already know that he will stay in Erudite. But me? I don't think I'm brave enough to change, but I'm not Erudite enough to stay.

I walk into room 1 and freeze. A chair sits there with all kinds of wires attached to it. The Abnegation volunteer looks up at me and smiles reassuringly. That's why I want to be with them. They try and help everyone, even us, when we release articles about how corrupt they are. But I don't think I'm forgiving enough. 'Don't worry, Layla' the man says. He has a gentle voice, easy to listen to. Calm. 'The test is a kind of simulation. You will be absolutely fine. Now, do sit down.' I obey, moving awkwardly to the device and climbing into it. He attaches the wires to my head and looks at me. 'I hope you aren't afraid of needles' he said, and before I can react he's jabbed me in the back of the neck and I'm not in the room anymore.

A basket sits next to me with two items in it- a knife and some cheese. 'Choose' a woman says, her voice coming from everywhere and nowhere at the same time. An all too familiar voice. 'Jeanine' I say, fighting the urge to laugh. Of course the Erudite would design the test. 'Choose,' she speaks again, and this time I do, taking the knife. _Stupid. You can only use a knife to harm_. A voice in my head snarls at me. Suddenly, a dog appears. It is black, a vicious beast that looks like it would only do harm. Its eyes are a gleaming black, but something stops me from killing it. Cautiously, I hold my hand out, kneeling so that I am lower than it- the dog seems huge, and I've never been that big- and let it reach its nose out. I wait for it to bite me, wondering if you can feel pain in a simulation, but it doesn't come. The beast licks my fingers, tail wagging. 'You're not so vicious, are you,' I say softly, scratching it under the chin. 'I could never kill you, you know. Don't know why I took the knife.' Then an eager squeal from behind me cuts across my thoughts. 'Ooh! A puppy!' the young girl wears a yellow dress and has a white balloon on a string tied around her wrist. The dog growls and I don't think, I just jump, wrapping my arms around her to shield her from the dog that charged her, and everything goes white.

I'm sitting in the chair in the test room, and the abnegation man is watching me carefully. I feel his eyes digging into me, trying to understand what just happened. 'Layla, your result was inconclusive' he says. 'Your test only removed two factions from the total- Dauntless, and amazingly, Erudite.' My heart pounds. What will they make me do? Am I automatically factionless, or do they test me further, trying to understand what I am? 'You are in a lot of danger. People who do not fit into a signal faction are known as Divergent… Ad in some factions, they tend to die. Do not share your result with anyone. I can manually submit your result as Erudite, but hey will be suspicious. Dauntless is dangerous, Divergent tend to die. Candor is where the divergent are forced to say what they are. I cannot change your mind, but be careful what you choose. Good day, Layla.' And he walks out and I leave to sit down next to my friends and say nothing.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: The real enemy

I sit at the computer in the library and glance around the room. There's no one here, its well after midnight. The search bar pops up instantly and I type in two words: Simulation serum. The results appear-over 10 000 of them, but I'm good with computers and a minute later I have found the top-secret files that show what appears to be battle plans. _ Battle Plans?_ The only soldiers are Dauntless but these strategies are pure Erudite thinking. I read faster- Lucy always called me a computer, I can read so fast that I think I've read every book in the school library- and slowly realise what is happening. Simulations with transmitters that keep the user in suspended animation, and all of it tied into the documents about how corrupt Abnegation is. All of this makes sense- give all the Dauntless a serum that they can activate at a later time, then control the whole faction with at and force them to attack Abnegation while they are basically sleepwalking in response to orders. But how will they convince the Dauntless to take such a serum? Then I hear footsteps outside the window. I can't find that now. What I can do is save this information on the USB that I keep on me the whole time, giving it to the Abnegation when I transfer tomorrow. Because I know this now- I can't stay with someone who is going to fight a war with hypnotised soldiers against innocent civilians.

I glance upwards at the building that everyone calls the hub, twenty stories high. Lucy's elbow digs into my ribs and I can feel her shaking. Today we decide our own futures. Or rather, we take one of five predetermined futures. We enter the lift and shoot upwards, slowly stepping out into the room of the choosing ceremony. As I move I feel the weight of the USB drive banging against my chest. It no longer contains assignments and research on everything I could find interesting research on-now it holds the documents that could bring down a faction. And will. I sit in my seat and wait as the Abnegation man speaks. Eventually he stops and there's the sound of muffled applause. The boy next to me goes second, returning to Candor, the faction he came from. And then it's my turn. I walk calmly forward as my name is called and take the knife from the man. His name comes to me. Marcus. I look once at the Erudite bowl, the water glittering in the strange blue light, but I no longer call it home. I drag the blade across my palm and move without hesitation, watching my blood fall on the grey stones of Abnegation. I am brave. I will fight for what is right.

I look once at my old faction as their yells of anger swirl around the room, and my eyes lock with Lucy's. Then, feeling far less certain than I did at the bowls, I take my seat amongst men and women wearing plain grey clothes.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Warnings

I watch as the rest of the 16-year olds choose their factions, holding my head high. Lucy looks at me when she stands up there, then jerks her hand sideways and watches her blood fall on the earth of Amity with an almost horrified fascination. I see the other factions leave, hear the Erudite's whispered comments about me as they pass but I work with another Abnegation girl, helping her to stack chairs. A quick glance around the room tells me everything-I am the only faction transfer. The Abnegation girl smiles cautiously at me. "Hello, Layla' she says. Well, I bet that everyone can remember my name now. 'Welcome to Abnegation.' A man, his dark eyes burning with an unusual anger, looks at me. 'Both my children transferred' he says bitterly. 'But, if you would like to stay with us, that's fine.' I smile gratefully at him, the man who was to become my adopted father. 'Thank you.' I say, looking around at the uniformity of these people. These people, who are now more important to my immediate survival than my parents ever were.

Dinner that night is plain- brown bread, chicken and peas. I haven't changed from my Erudite gear, even though the grey robes I am supposed to wear now sit in a pile on my bed. The USB that has everything I need to tell them feels like it is burning through my skin, begging me to yank it off and throw it far, far away. The man-my adopted father- observes me through the whole meal. I can feel his intense stare on me even though I avoid his eyes. 'Thankyou- the dinner was delicious.' The words drop out of my mouth instantly and now the woman- my mother- looks up. 'It's fine, dear.' Her voice is so gentle and kind. How could I possibly be this good? ''I expect you are feeling tired after today, so go get a good night's rest.' It sounds like a suggestion, but it is an order. I want to obey, but to do so would mean to hide the truth about the danger they-we- are in. 'There's something I have to show you.' I say, reaching for the USB around my neck. I keep my eyes away from theirs, trying how to say this best. In the end I decide to tell the truth. 'Yesterday… the aptitude test was a sort of simulation. I was interested in how it worked so I did some research. There is something called a simulation serum and I think that the Erudite are planning to control the Dauntless with it.' I uncurl my fist and show them the USB, the silver casing catching the light and reflecting it at odd angles. "The data… it's all on here. I downloaded it yesterday evening.' Finally, I force myself to look at them. The woman- _my mother_- I have to tell myself looks at me with determination in her eyes. She turns to her husband. 'Go get Marcus' she says and then turns back to me. 'let's go find out what Erudite are planning.'

We are standing in some kind of meeting hall, behind the single computer in the area. I can't see a book anywhere. Probably considered to be self indulgent or something. It's well past midnight again and my parents have been sitting with Marcus, reading the documents with increasingly worried looks on their faces. Finally, they sit back and watch each other. Marcus is the one who speaks first. 'This is all very serious, but there is one flaw in the Erudite's plans' he says, his voice sounding unnaturally loud in the confined space. 'How are they going to convince the Dauntless to take the serum? The Dauntless may not be the cleverest, but they wouldn't be that easy to fool.' I have to admit, I agree- No one trusts the Erudite wholeheartedly. The Dauntless would be suspicious of anything the Erudite gave them. Then my mother speaks. 'The Dauntless initiation is divided into three stages.' Her voice is so much softer than Marcus', I strain to hear her. 'The first, fighting skills. The second and third both involve simulations that put the initiates against their worst fears. The Erudite could easily get the initiates that way, but I don't see how the rest of the faction can be given the serum.' We will need to find out how this simulation serum is progressing. I believe if I visit Caleb on Visiting Day he can tell us all we need to know.' Of course! One of their real children transferred to Erudite. The other to Dauntless. We have spies in all the right places. I know that Marcus is thinking the same thing. 'Get some sleep' my father instructs me. 'We will work on a strategy once we have more information.' I exit the room feeling lighter than air. The Abnegation will not be slaughtered. Some of us will escape the Erudite.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4: The end of all things

The next week passes in a haze of community service and night time meetings. Some of the other council members have been shown the documents and I can often find one or more of them staring intently at me, as if they are trying to work out what is going on in my head. They are surprisingly focused for a faction that is not supposed to show any curiosity. Visiting day comes, along with the news that Erudite has banned Abnegation members from their headquarters, so my mother goes to visit Beatrice at Dauntless and tells her to take a message to Caleb in Erudite. Three days later, Caleb is on the streets, factionless, and comes to find us and gives us the details of the Erudite plan. Most we already knew, but some aspects of it sickened all of us. What was true was that the whole Dauntless faction would be attacking. The meetings grow more frequent until I barely sleep, cleaning up the streets during the day and listening to the meetings at night, where everyone offers to be a decoy so that the others can survive. It would have been funny if the threat wasn't so serious. I am finally used to wearing grey clothes instead of blue, even if the USB stays around my neck every second that it's not in use. Finally, the month is up and there's no attack from the Dauntless/Erudite army so I graduate and become a member of Abnegation, serving food to Susan Black, the girl who I met on the day of the Choosing Ceremony. It feels so real now, how I'm no longer an Erudite. I go to sleep that night smiling, feeling safer than I ever have been in these identical houses and plain grey clothes. How all of that would change in the morning.

I wake up to the sound of marching feet and I peer out the window. Armies of Dauntless move past, their faces slack, all holding guns and moving in unison to unspoken orders. I freeze, feeling that I haven't done enough, watching terrified as a grey blur crumples to the pavement. My mother stands in the doorway and she grabs my arm, leading me out of the house and into a bunker. None of the soldiers see us. 'Stay here' she tells me, and I do, keeping my head down. I see Susan sitting alone on the other side and go to her. She wraps her arms around me and I do the same, so we sit like that for almost an hour, trying to keep each other calm. I know others are there- I can see Marcus, Caleb and my father- but my world shrinks until it is just me and Susan, alone, in a happier place with beautiful flowers outside. Then there's someone banging on the door in what must be a code as Marcus runs to open it. Instead of my mother I see Tris, my adopted sister who had changed to Dauntless. Caleb asks about their mother and she just shakes her head. I know that there are discussions and it's eventually decided that most of us will go towards Amity while Tris, Caleb, Marcus and my father will go to the Dauntless headquarters and try to shut down the simulation. I stand and Susan stands with me, her eyes wide and hands shaking. We walk to the door and run out, moving through the city fast, going towards Amity. The others run towards the trains that will take them to Dauntless, to danger. I wish for a moment that I was with them. We slow to a walk but keep a steady pace towards Amity, and we are almost out of the city, almost to safety, when the group of soldiers turn the corner and run straight towards us. There's no time to think, only enough to realise that I could save so many lives. 'Keep running!' I yell, turning towards the guards. 'I'll hold them up.' The others look at me, Susan with a shocked look on her face, and then they run, and I see them burst out of the buildings before the soldiers reach me. I turn towards them and move so that they'll be firing away from the others when they shoot me. My breathing is too fast but I keep my head high as they load their guns. I will not give the Erudite the satisfaction of hearing me scream. There's a deafening roar and I'm blown backwards into the building and I want to laugh because I'm suddenly very holey-God, I'm about to die and I can only make jokes- and then there's only time to form one clear thought. _Please, God, let it not have all been for nothing._


End file.
